The big man with tentacles writhing around his head pushed back his chair, rising quickly as soon as he spotted them in the doorway. The smaller man, who resembled a two-legged fish, pursed open his mouth as he turned in his chair toward the girl, revealing a double-row of sharp pointy teeth.
The tentacled man hurried forward, his arms opened wide, a dripping fork in one hand.
Gustin grabbed the girl in front of him and, ignoring Sophraea's squeak of protest, pulled her behind him. He joggled her hand, causing her to drop her candle. The little flame winked out, leaving the basement full of shadows, the only light the single candle burning on the table.
The stranger's tentacles fanned out around his head, whipping back and forth like a snake about to strike. The one with two rows of teeth sprang out of his chair to follow his companion.
Gustin's hand flew up and the flame flared at the end of his wand.
Sophraea latched onto his wrist, shoving down his hand. "Wait," she cried as she had in the graveyard when she wanted to protect the topiary dragon.
He began to pull away but Sophraea shifted her grip, pushing at his wand to direct the flaming tip away from the man advancing toward them.
"Don't… be careful…" Gustin warned the girl.
Trying to take the wand out of Sophraea's grasp without hurting her, Gustin lost his own grip on it. In fact, as had happened once or twice before, he was sure that the cursed thing twisted deliberately under his Angers. With its usual spite, the wand spun out of his hand. Swearing under his breath, Gustin made a flailing grab for it. The flame detached itself from the end of the rod, rolled itself into a ball of sparks, and whizzed out of reach.
Sophraea squeaked as the ball of sparks sped past her nose. The strange little ball ricocheted off the wall, and bounced back over his head. He waved his arms wildly, trying to deflect it away from his hair, trying to call up a shield between them and the out-of-control ball of sparks as quickly as he could. The spluttering ball of light flew upward, colliding with the ceiling.
With a sharp crack, a chunk of plaster broke loose and fell from above, hitting him squarely on the top of his head.
His knees buckled and he fell back onto the sputtering Sophraea. Just like a farm boy falling off the barn roof, he thought a little incoherently as he tumbled into the girl that he had hoped to impress with his quick wits and magic.
There wasn't much of her but what there was cushioned parts of him nicely as they both landed on the hard cold stone floor. Still, she wasn't very long and Gustin cracked his chin on the top of her head and, then, the back of his head on the stones below them.
After one more breathless squeak underneath him, Sophraea balled her hand into a tight little fist and punched his closest ear.
"Ouch," Gustin groaned. The girl might be tiny but she could hit hard.
"Get off me!" Sophraea cried.
And the big man with tentacles for hair lunged at Gustin.
For the second time that day, Sophraea found herself pinned to the ground by a large body. Gustin was a dead weight that wasn't actually dead. As a Carver, she knew the difference. -
"Sophraea, Sophraea, are you all right?" She looked up into the concerned faces of the gravediggers Feeler and Fish. She hadn't expected them to be in the basement. Usually they went out after dinner for a drink in the Warrens.
Feeler grabbed Gustin's shoulder and rolled him off Sophraea. Fish reached down a scaled hand to help her to her feet. After a quick "thank you" to Fish, she bent over Gustin. He struggled to sit upright with his head between his knees. Muffled groans emitted from him with greater drama than she felt was necessary. After all, he'd hit her on the top of the head when he fell and she could feel that lump forming. And she had not punched him that hard. When she tipped his head back, he blinked at her, looking somewhat cross-eyed.
Squatting down beside them, Feeler patted Gustin's arms and legs. His tentacles waved around his head, a sure sign that the big man was a bit upset by all the magic that had been whirling through the basement. To Sophraea, however, he spoke in his usual mild deep tones, "Nothing broken. Perhaps a bruise or two in the morning. He'll be fine."
Relieved but unwilling to show it, Sophraea asked Gustin sharply, "What was all that about?"
"Why did you grab me?" he countered. "Don't ever do that again! That's dangerous!"
"You were attacking my friends."
"I was just trying to give you some light. You dropped the candle."
"What sort of light makes a hole in the ceiling!"
Gustin shook the plaster dust out of his brown curls, wincing a little at the movement. "It's a wand with several uses, that's what it is. But you can't break my concentration or I lose my grip on it."
"What kind of wizard are you?" she demanded.
"Fairly good, by all standards," replied Gustin evenly as he crawled around on his hands and knees, patting the floor in front of him. With a grunt of satisfaction, he located his lost wand, tucking it back up his sleeve. "But this little item isn't all that reliable. It likes to slip out of its user's hand."
"Then why do you have it?" Sophraea asked as she climbed to her feet.
"Payment for a job. Never take magic items from another wizard. The cheap ones always cheat by giving you trash," said the young wizard with casual condemnation of his profession. "That's why I prefer to make my money in other ways."
Aware of Feeler and Fish listening carefully to every word that Gustin was babbling, she stopped him before he could say more about his schemes and introduced the two gravediggers to him.
"So," said Gustin with a cheerful grin, as if he had not just knocked a hole in their ceiling, "you live down here?"
"People don't bother us here. It's quiet," said Feeler while Fish nodded and lit another candle. Fish rarely spoke in front of strangers, Sophraea knew, because of the odd lisp created by his two rows of teeth and split tongue.
"I am sorry about interrupting your supper," said Sophraea.
"Not to worry," said Feeler, "you're welcome any time."
"We just need to use your door," she explained.
"YoUr parents know you're going into the tunnels?"
Sophraea gave the type of a shrug that might be taken for a "yes" in dim light. Feeler appeared skeptical'and Fish pursed his mouth in a disapproving frown. ¦ "I'll watch out for her, saer," said Gustin.
To Sophraea's frustration, Feeler looked straight over her head at the wizard. "You wouldn't want to know how deep we could bury the body that harmed this child," he said.
"No, saer," said Gustin sincerely. "I'm sure I wouldn't."
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," asserted Sophraea. Really, just because the gravediggers had given her rides on their shovels when she was a baby, that didn't mean that she couldn't protect herself now. "It's not like I haven't been in the tunnels before!"
"With a pack of your brothers and cousins," said Feeler. "Not alone. That's different."
"He is a wizard. With a wand," Sophraea pointed out because she had a feeling that would impress them more than her usual argument that she was fully grown and quite able to navigate the tunnels on her own. "And we're only going a short way. I just want to show him something and then we'll come right back."
With a heavy sigh, Feeler agreed. "But take our lantern with you. Candles blow out too easily."
"But there're lights in the tunnels." Sophraea picked up the lantern even as she protested.
"But that's magic," Feeler said. "And, as your young man pointed out, some magical items are not always reliable. I know you won't get lost, but there're things out there that you don't want to meet in total darkness. What if you stumble across those sewyrms everybody keeps seeing down here?"